Tiramisu Matcha

OhMyGawdOhMyGawdOhMyGawd! I figured I’d like this one but I was in no way prepared to like it this much. This is awesomeness. Pure awesomeness.

I can’t eat Tiramisu. Why? Because it’s made with coffee. Did I mention that I love tiramisu? It’s so yummy. One of my favorite desserts. But, in case you’ve already forgotten, I can’t eat it. Coffee is the evil of my life. It makes me sick. Even when I eat something with coffee in it. I can enjoy coffee flavors, no problem. But if a food or drink is made with actual coffee … I get sick. So, it’s hard to really enjoy tiramisu knowing that in about two hours or so I will begin to feel like my stomach is being turned inside out, wrung out, and ripped apart by Bruno the strong-handed Brut. It might taste delicious, but nothing is worth that feeling. Not even tiramisu.

sigh

So, I was excited when Red Leaf Tea announced its tiramisu (and now even more excited with the announcement of Creme Brulee & maple flavors … I think I might be in Matcha Paradise and Robert from Red Leaf Tea is the King of Matcha Paradise), and… this is EVEN BETTER than the dessert. Not only does the Matcha offer an exciting, dynamic layer of flavor to the exquisite dessert … but I can drink this without worrying that I am going to get sick in a couple of hours from it.

And this is so good! It’s creamy and decadent. I can taste the creamy, rich, sweet marscapone cheese – it tastes rich and custard-y. And I can taste the cocoa – deep, dark, rich cocoa! And I can taste the coffee too. Together with the sweet, creamy, thick Matcha it is absolutely sublime. A perfect dessert.

I prepared this traditionally, using hot water and whisking… but I added just a little less water than I normally would, and replaced that with the same amount of warmed milk to make a thinned latte. The addition of milk enhances the creaminess, making it so rich and decadent. Amazingly good.

I’d tell you just how good this is but I think I’m supposed to keep these tasting notes Rated G. Or at least PG-13.

If you’d like to experience your own rated R experience with Tiramisu Matcha, you can find it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html

Tiramisu Matcha

You can buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html

Very true to the taste of traditional tiramisu. You can even taste the chocolate dust powder on top of the tiramisu, along with the Vienna fingers and mascarpone! Very nice!

Many years ago, I had the BEST traditional tiramisu ever. I may never find another like it again in this lifetime. It was in a small Italian restaurant either in Kansas City, or Chicago, I so wish I could recall. The “story” was that it was once owned by the mob, and that the same family still owned it although they no longer ran the place, and supposedly were no longer mob related. lol Regardless, the food was amazing, it felt like being right there in Italy having a true Italian meal. The tiramisu, Oh my, so authentic! I have had many tiramisu since then always seeking for that elusive flavor I once had, but I have never found it. I would have to say that this matcha is a close one to that tiramisu, although I don’t get to bite into it, I can still taste the elements within it.
The liquor flavor, the chocolate power dusting on top, the Vienna Fingers, the mascarpone cheese, so delectable!

Granted I would still love to find a true tiramisu that tastes like the one I had long ago, but then I suppose I would have to travel not only to another state but also back into the deep dark recesses of my mind to remember where the heck that place was! That would be a long dark travel indeed! Hard to say if that place even still exists! Regardless here I can sit and sip on my tiramisu matcha and be quite happy! Its very good.

My matcha was composed as the following:

Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust
Storage : Add Small Metal Tin Container (Holds up to 45g) 
As always I highly suggest you get the tin – its a screw on lid that keeps your matcha fresh and dry and helps you keep from spilling it by trying to scoop it out of the bag. 
Again you can get yours here:
You can buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html

And now it’s time for yet another desert matcha. I’ve been craving a coffee-flavored matcha for a while, and luckily this Tiramisu went on sale, so I snatched it up. It’s been a while since I’ve had tiramisu, but I remember it was creamy, with coffee and chocolatey undertones.

I ordered the 30g, Starter (Basic Grade), Flavor: Robust. After trying all these robust flavors, I’m a little scared to scale back down to the lower flavoring levels. Maybe I might bite the bullet one day and do it.

I prepared this the traditional way using hot water and a whisk. When I took a sip of the matcha plain, it was of course too bitter and grassy for me, and I couldn’t really taste any tiramisu. I added some milk and it .. still seemed to just taste like regular matcha with water. I’m having a hard time picking up this flavor. Did I maybe add too much matcha?

Since my water bottle Boysenberry matcha experiment was such a success yesterday, I decided to repeat it and see if I could get the flavor better. I put some matcha in a water bottle, shook it up, and drank some. And still.. not really getting any flavor. Not like the Boysenberry the other day. I’m getting the matcha, but I was really hoping for coffee. Maybe this flavor is just too subtle?

It’s possible that I may be burned out on my desert matchas and they are all blending together. I think I was hoping for more coffee and chocolate notes, but I’m really just getting creaminess. I probably should just order a straight-up coffee flavored one the next time around if that’s what I want. Your experience may differ, though.

As a reminder, you can buy this matcha here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html

Still debating if I want to order that pumpkin pie matcha that will inevitably be on sale this week. Decisions, decisions…

First, the specifics of my order:

Matcha grade: Basic
Flavor: Distinctive
Size: 30 g.

You can order (and further customize the type of matcha/flavoring/amount!) here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html.

This was my first experience with Red Leaf Tea, and I have to say the shipping was unbelievably fast! Like, two days door to door, and there are quite a few states between Georgia and Illinois. It’s like they knew I was waiting impatiently at the other end :).

This was also really my first experience with matcha. I love desserty things, and I love green tea, but I wasn’t so sure how the two would combine. Add to that the lack of traditional equipment and I was worried about not getting an authentic matcha experience. Well – I don’t know if it was authentic, but it was really, really good!

I prepared this latte style, all milk (heated in a saucepan) but no sweetener. I sifted about a tsp. of matcha into the heated milk and stirred to combine before pouring the whole thing into a milk frother. A few pumps of the frother resulted in some very impressive, thick layer of foam that didn’t disappear until I drank it.

And the taste was AMAZING! The sweetness in the milk was all that I needed to taste the cocoa powder and creamy marscapone cheese. There was still that nice vegetal green matcha taste to keep things from being OVERLY dessert-ish, though if that’s what you’re after you could certainly order more flavoring. I loved the balance between everything in this, and it’s a shame I only have an ounce of it. Oh well! Guess I better order more then! :)

Mmmm tiramisu matcha. I suppose I should branch out into the fruit or plain matchas eventually, but I’ve been having a lot of fun with the desserts so far. Opening the package today, this smelled creamy, chocolatey, and there was a little fruity sharpness to it also.

I prepared this the traditional way at first: 1 gram of matcha to about 4oz water – at this level I have enough matcha to get a decent froth and enough water that it doesn’t taste too thick and powdery for me to drink. I’ve given up on my chashaku, by the way, and just use a 1/2 tsp now because that is very close to 1 gram. The chashaku, once I measured, was giving me anywhere from .55 to 1.2 grams, depending on the angle I held it at and how the matcha piled.

Anyway, it tasted good just like that! I could have drunk the whole bowl straight, but I couldn’t resist adding a little milk – still good, but different! Much creamier, and the flavor got muted a bit. With just water, I could taste the flavors better – there’s so many that they’re hard to pull out, but the overall impression definitely aligns with tiramisu: cream, chocolate, sharpness that could come from coffee or cheese, fruitiness that I’ll attribute to rum :) I suspect this will be even better cold!

The was the starter grade of green matcha with delicate flavoring, and you can buy it at: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html

I love tiramisu! However, I’ve eaten it only a few times in my life. The best one was actually a matcha tiramisu that I ate at the Richmond Night Market, in Richmond, BC Canada. The green tea tiramisu was so creamy, eggy, green tea, and sweet! I was excited to see that Red Leaf Teas http://www.redleaftea.com/ had created a tiramisu flavor! I’m all over that!

What I ordered:

Tiramisu Matcha
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html
Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust (because I love my tiramisu)
Small Tin
By the way, appears there was a packaging change, now it’s in a silver foil bag, still non resealable.

The matcha powder on its own is very sweet and chocolate coffee smell.
Prepared as a regular hot matcha, the froth didn’t maintain itself – something I’ve been noticing whenever I ordered a “robust” level matcha. Without sweetener, it is coffee – like bitter with a hint of chocolate. It was a little too strong coffee bitterness for my liking, so I added a bit of sugar, which made the matcha taste smooth, creamy, little mocha and chocolately. I’m thinking this would be better as a hot latte.

Now onto my favorite part: iced matcha latte! (sifted tiramisu matcha + soy milk + sweetener + ice). This is spot on tiramisu, almost ice creamy since my matcha is cold. I can taste the whipped cream middle, which leaves a creamyness sensation on the tongue afterward, chocolately and slightly eggy. I don’t taste any bitterness and very slight coffee taste. The green tea is very background, from the “robust” flavoring.

Overall, not sure which Red Leaf Tea matcha I like more, Bavarian Cream or Tiramisu. Both and nice and complex. For the tiramisu, it be easy for it to be just mocha flavor, however this matcha pulls off the various elements of tiramisu, impressive! I wanna dust this matcha ontop of a real tiramisu! Oh heck, make my own tiramisu with this matcha, ehhh maybe on a well planned cheat day!

This was a swap from Rachel. It’s been awhile but I have not had a chance to drink this matcha. Finally today, I sat down to try this matcha.

First of all, I do not know how to properly brew matcha.. I don’t really know how much water or oz to put so I just put 1tsp of matcha and put a bit of water, and when color looked fine… just drank it. I was expecting somewhat of bitterness, however it did not taste bitter at all. However, I couldn’t really tell the taste of tiramisu – except creamy flavor at the end. Maybe that was it..?

I guess I’m still at experimental stage of matcha. :)

My first matcha ever =) I tried it for the first time yesterday and it was a very confusing experience. Since I don’t have any experience with matcha, I’m going to hold off on rating it for now. I’d like to try a few more matchas so I can get a good idea of what qualities I’m looking for.

Matcha is a strange taste and texture. My first sip I thought “Hmmm….I don’t think I like this” but as I drank on the flavor started to grow on me…interesting…green…good? I’m not sure yet.

One thing I do know is that I spent the rest of the night thinking about that cup of tea. Thinking about the flavor and texture. I don’t think I can really comment on the tiramisu flavor because I was too busy focusing on the matcha itself.

This morning I really wanted to try it again and this time I made it as a latte. The frothy milk goes really well and balances the cup out nicely. It “takes the edge off” I guess. Not that I wasn’t interested in the edge…I was actually a little dissappointed that the flavor wasn’t as strong. Perhaps I should use a little extra powder when making a latte? The tiramisu flavor was much more pronounced in this cup – sweet, creamy, delicious!

I ordered my matcha basic grade and with delicate flavor (the pre-selected options) but next time I think I’m going to pay for the distinctive flavor level and see how that goes.

I got my matcha here : http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html

Overall it was a very different first experience! It was nothing like what I expected. I have to say I am really really intruiged by the whole thing. I wasn’t sure I really liked matcha upon the first sip, but as I drank on the flavor really started to grow on me. I think my next matcha order will be an unflavored one. I’m definitely going to continue experimenting.

I’ll start off by saying that tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts, and I am (a little bit) happy that it isn’t something I can have often, because I’d weigh as much as three elephants. I’m not sure I would ever add matcha to my homemade tiramisu – no one else would even try it – but I was intrigued and decided to add it to my order.

This is the best flavoured matcha I have ever tried. It is leaps ahead of everything else. I was worried it wouldn’t mix well with the matcha flavour, but it did. I had another tiramisu tea (not matcha, I think it was a rooibos) and it wasn’t authentic at all with the flavour. Everything about it is perfect. I’ve tried it both iced as a latte and hot. I’d give the edge to the iced version; the flavour just really seemed to pop. Hot it was still amazing – it had a solid tiramisu flavour that was decadent and creamy and I just can’t find any fault with it at all! The only bad thing about this tea is how fast I’m going to need to buy more of it! I think at some point I will try putting this in the blender and making a frappucino style drink! If only I had ordered it at the beginning of the summer….now I am always cold and looking for a hot drink. If you are trying to pick a sweet dessert flavour this is definitely the one I would go with. Just writing this review makes me want to go make more – but I am so torn because I don’t want it to be gone too quickly!! Check it out here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html